Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) Short Interest Up 19.7% in March

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,790,000 shares, a growth of 19.7% from the March 15th total of 2,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Walter Jankovic purchased 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.44 per share, with a total value of $113,280.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 46,129 shares in the company, valued at $435,457.76. This trade represents a 35.16 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel T. Whalen purchased 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.15 per share, with a total value of $30,450.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 8,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,726. The trade was a 51.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 32,780 shares of company stock valued at $316,607. 2.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmonic

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HLIT. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Harmonic by 9,004.4% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,719,837 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $62,443,000 after purchasing an additional 4,667,996 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Harmonic by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,788,714 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $103,045,000 after buying an additional 1,300,128 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its holdings in shares of Harmonic by 198.2% during the 4th quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 797,176 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,547,000 after purchasing an additional 529,833 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Harmonic by 175.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 681,425 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,015,000 after acquiring an additional 434,481 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of Harmonic by 1,583.7% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 435,852 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,766,000 after buying an additional 409,966 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on HLIT. StockNews.com upgraded Harmonic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Harmonic from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on shares of Harmonic from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their target price on Harmonic from $14.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Harmonic in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.50.

Harmonic Price Performance

HLIT traded up $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 417,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,253,159. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.65. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Harmonic has a 1 year low of $7.91 and a 1 year high of $15.46.

Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Harmonic had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 15.90%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Harmonic will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Harmonic declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, February 10th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to buy up to 15.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Harmonic

Harmonic Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband solutions worldwide. The company operates through Broadband and Video segments. The Broadband segment sells broadband access solutions and related services, including cOS software-based broadband access solutions to broadband operators; and cOS central cloud services, a subscription service for cOS customers.